Fish Assemblage Integrity Index (FAII) method field test

The Fish Assemblage Integrity Index (FAII) method developed by Dr. Neels Kleynhans was tested to determine the repetitiveness of the method by different users as part of the national coverage phase for the National Aquatic Ecosystems Health Monitoring Programme (NAEHMP) project. The Institute of Natural Resources (INR) coordinated a field day to test the method where four organizations (Department of Water and Sanitation, University of Johannesburg, South African National Parks and Mpumalanga Parks Board) were involved in the actual testing of the method. The exercise was conducted on Elands River around Machadodorp, Mpumalanga Province, on 10 -11 August, 2006. Four sites were strategically chosen and three out of four teams, except the SANPark team, performed the exercise.

Unfortunately Dr. Piet Kotze of the SANParks team met an accident by falling into the water at the first site and the team could not continue with the rest of the two day activity except that Dr. Andrew Deacon continued helping other teams. The two days went well and information collected will be processed by Dr. Neels Kleynhans before passing through to Dr. Mark Graham to perform statistical analysis. Once the method is fully functional, INR will develop a quality control and assurance protocol as part of the NAEHMP project.